Strings

String instruments, or chordophones, are musical devices that generate sound by the vibration of a string.  Chordophones have five main classifications:
Musical Bow, Harp, Lute, Lyre, and Zither.  In this gallery we will use both the Hornbostel & Sachs classification with their European traditional names in identifying the instruments.

Harps – orchestral, folk
Lutes
– banjos; guitars; hurdy-gurdy; mandolins; violin family
Lyres
– yoke lutes
Musical Bow
– mouth bows, earth-resonated string bows, and gourd-resonated string bow
Zithers
– keyboards, dulcimers

Scroll to Top